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2. Literature Review
2.1. Different views about this novel from home and abroad
Little Women is the most classic novel of Louisa May Alcott. Between 19th century and 20th century, the studies of Little Women loom so large in west literature. Since it was first published, it has gained the interests and attentions of a great amount of readers and critics. At that time, critics paid more attention to its vivid description of New England family life in 1860s. one of the critics for Hartford Daily Court once gave such comment, “she is brilliant, witty, has remarkable descriptive powers, and is as eminently successful in collating the sympathies of the reader as almost any writer that we have now” Because of the description of New England Puritan suburban life, Little Women can also be viewed as a domestic novel, for the core of a domestic drama is apparent in it. It is also “as has been said, an idyll, a hymn in praise of family”. Due to the difference from the conventional women, March sisters had their own thought and willingness. They were more independent than the common women at that time. Therefore, lots of reviewers liked to focus on the feminist themes of this novel. In terms of the transcendentalism, many critics believed that the March family showed their prefers to the nature and spirits than the maturity mainly from the over-soul, inpidualism and self-reliance.源^自·751|文\论]文'网[www.751com.cn
The current domestic research on the novel from past to the present is offered in the following. We can nearly find some aspects of study mainly from the feminist view, puritanism view, the transcendentalism view and also the education view. As for the feminism view, in Wang Zhe’s (2012) journal article, he stated that the awakening of female awareness could be found in this novel from three perspectives: value on love and marriage, female self-strengthening and the family values. All of these had great importance to the development of American feminism. Also, Wen Zhaolian (2008) offered her point that this novel was the representative of 19 century American female consciousness and at that time, American women had the dependence not only in their spirit but also in their economy. In “The influence of Little Women”, Carolyn (1997) argued that although the book was filled with submissive women who were content with domestic life, a great deal of feminist attention concentrated on women’s influences on men. For Liu Lu, she thought March’s family was a typical kind of American puritan life. In this novel, the author described a true image of an ordinary puritan family and because of which, readers could get the concept and belief of life from this novel. From the transcendentalism view, Jiao Qianqian (2010) explored the situation of the author, the plot of the novel and the images of the characters. She believed that this novel combined its concept with American transcendental philosophy and therefore built the view of world, life and the value. Besides, Chen Wen (2013) also held the view that spirit could transcend the substance and sensibility. She also thought transcendentalism which stressed the self-esteem and self-discipline was filled in these little women in the novel. Wang Pi, a Chinese scholar found the March’s family always got comfort from the nature and keep a harmonious relationship with it which was the true transcendentalism. Some researchers regarded Little Women as a model of family education. According to Huang Yan’s analysis of this novel, she spoke high of Mrs. March and even praised her as an artist of education. Others also thought much of virtue in March sisters was the fruit of their mother’s unique education.
2.2 Studies of essentialism and pragmatism
Essentialism was put forward by a Swiss educator J .H. Pestalozzi in the late 18th century. It is based on psychologize from education, and emphases the importance of some simple elements. It not only influenced Switzerland but also other Occident. Silvia (1997) concluded Pestalozzi's philosophy of education as a four-sphere concept of life and the premise that human nature was essentially good. The first three ‘exterior' spheres – home and family, vocational and inpidual self-determination, and state and nation – recognized the family, the utility of inpiduality, and the applicability of the parent-child relationship to society as a whole in the development of a child's character, attitude toward learning, and sense of duty. The last ‘exterior' sphere – inner sense – posited that education, having provided a means of satisfying one's basic needs, results in inner peace and a keen belief in God. Therefore, in 19th century, there came a campaign of Pestalozzi. American historian E. J. Power (1970) once pointed that Pestalozzi had a profound impact on the education model all over the world especially America. P. R. Cole (1972) stressed that essentialism provided new goals, thoughts and methods to many primary schools in western countries.